Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Bella Bella 1 trails that of 92% of Canadian towns
Commutes from Bella Bella 1 average 9 minutes, and 0% take an hour or more. The median household in Bella Bella 1 had $61,200 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. In May 2021, unemployment in Bella Bella 1 reached 8.7%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
The work figures that set Bella Bella 1 apart
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 61% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 50% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $61,200 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 0% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Bella Bella 1 earns C for jobs and income
Better than 29% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
61% of working-age people in Bella Bella 1 have jobs
55% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. The census was taken on 11 May 2021, mid-pandemic, when lockdowns had pushed unemployment up and sent many to work from home.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
Household income in Bella Bella 1
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 86% of Canadian towns.
Bella Bella 1’s median is 30% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
At 9 minutes, commutes from Bella Bella 1 are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 6.6 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 90%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
Bella Bella 1 empties a little on a working day
Each person commuting in is matched by about 8 residents going out. Of those who commute, 89% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
11% of Bella Bella 1’s residents in work leave it to work; Port Hardy takes the most
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Bella Bella 1 work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
- Central Coast A10
- Port Hardy15
- Mount Waddington C10
- Central Coast A10
- Bella Coola 110
In the other direction the biggest source is Central Coast A, with 10.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
37% of commuters from Bella Bella 1 go without a car
Few ride transit: 2.2%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The middle of British Columbia’s towns has 4.6% walking; here, 32% do. The car takes 63% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 5.3% against 21%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
33% more people are on EI in the Central Coast census division than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 11%. In January 2019 it reached 360, the most in the series and 1.6 times the 2019 average. Roughly 8.8 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Central Coast census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Bella Bella 1 grades A+ for walkability
Better than almost every Canadian town on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Next to Bella Bella 1: how nearby places compare
Bella Bella 1 has no close neighbour with figures; the nearest is 101 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Bella 1 | 61% | 8.7% | $61K | 9 min | C | A+ |
| Bella Coola 1 100.7 km | 46% | 13% | $48K | 9.1 min | C− | A− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Bella Bella 1, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
- A First Nations reserve. Bella Bella 1’s figures are its own, though Statistics Canada rounds or suppresses some for small communities. A reserve has no overall grade and sits in no ranked list.
Questions about work in Bella Bella 1
How do people in Bella Bella 1 get to work?
63% of commuters drive, 2.2% take public transit, 32% walk and 2.2% cycle; 5.3% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Bella Bella 1?
The average commute is 9 minutes; 90% of trips take under 15 minutes and 0% an hour or more.
Where do people in Bella Bella 1 work?
Most stay: 89% work in Bella Bella 1. The rest go first to Port Hardy (15) and Mount Waddington C (10).
How many jobs are there in Bella Bella 1?
The 2021 census found about 315 people with their usual workplace in Bella Bella 1, or 0.9 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 24 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Bella Bella 1?
Two figures answer it: 8.7% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.2% for the Vancouver Island and Coast economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Bella Bella 1?
Bella Bella 1’s middle household had $61,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).